The Quality-of-Life Outcomes of the San Jose Bikeway Infrastructure

The city needs such assessments to determine if the bikeway improvements are in fact reducing accidents, increasing the number of trips taken by bikes and scooters, and benefiting historically underserved communities. If not, the city needs to understand why and what we need to do to improve. For this purpose, the PI of this proposal conveyed a team of SAVi center at SJSU, Mineta Transportation Institute, the City of San José, San José Downtown Residents Association (SJDRA), and Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) to conduct a community-engaged research project for assessing the outcomes of the bikeway improvements. This project was recently selected to participate in Spin’s The Streets: Mobility Data for Safer Streets (MDSS) initiative which will provide a suite of data sources, software tools and physical equipment for this project. This project will focus on the Better Bikeways Program, the City’s implemented bikeway in 2020 plus the downtown lane. This plan incorporates street redesign and traffic calming strategies to develop 400 miles of a city-wide micro mobility network with a focus on equity and safety and to use this infrastructure to promote a mode change from automobile to active transportation. This project will assess the impacts on the wellbeing of the residents by focusing on the outcomes of this plan for safety, equity, and environmental friendliness. Providing evidence-based analysis of the implemented plans has two major benefits for the community. First, if the analysis reveals positive outcomes for the residents’ well-being, it could persuade residents to adapt to active transportation facilities in a very car-oriented region. Second, if our analyses show adverse impacts of the plans, the city will benefit from the findings for the necessary adjustments in its 2050 Bike Plan. Although labeled as Better Bikeways, this plan targets infrastructures that also cover other micro mobility infrastructures such as scooters.